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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 13 July 2025
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Displaying 1472 contributions

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COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 17 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

It is important that we consider Scotland in comparison with the rest of the globe, if we have had that information in the past week.

I know that there are constant staff pressures on the national health service at the moment, but do we have any indication of when screening services—for example, breast screening for over-70s—will be fully back up and running?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Ministerial Statement and Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 17 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

My other question relates to test and protect staff who have been working for the past 18 months and have been in touch with me in the past couple of days. They feel that the announcement last Tuesday was a kick in the teeth. Forgive me if this is wrong information, but the information that was relayed from them was that the health boards told them that funding was in place for test and protect until September. Therefore, there was an assumption that they would be in the roles until September and not out of a job in April. Can you give any clarity on that and the funding options?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 17 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

Good morning, and welcome to the ninth meeting in 2022 of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee.

This morning, we will conclude our evidence taking on the inquiry into excess deaths in Scotland since the start of the pandemic. I welcome to the meeting Humza Yousaf, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and Professor Jason Leitch, national clinical director for the Scottish Government.

Cabinet secretary, would you like to make some short opening remarks before we move to questions?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 17 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

Thank you very much. What is your interpretation of the data on excess deaths during the pandemic? In particular, what is your view on Public Health Scotland’s submission, which says that

“from July 2021 onwards the pattern changed, with almost all causes of death being in excess”?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 17 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

That concludes our consideration of this agenda item and our time with the cabinet secretary. I thank him and his supporting official for attending.

I suspend the meeting briefly to allow a changeover of witnesses.

10:12 Meeting suspended.  

10:19 On resuming—  

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

Thank you. I agree with you. It is extremely important that people get back the confidence to visit their GP and do not ignore warning signs.

My next question is for Dr Fenton of Public Health Scotland and Dr Perez-Reche. What is your interpretation of the excess deaths data?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

Finally, we have Dr Francisco Perez-Reche. I hope that I pronounced that correctly.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

What are some of the issues that are encountered when organising the witnessing of a named person nomination? Does any of them predate the pandemic?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Excess Deaths Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

Thank you. We turn to questions, and I will begin. Some of the previous witnesses in our inquiry have said that, at this stage, it is still very difficult to draw any conclusions on excess deaths and that we might have to wait a considerable time to do that. However, the consultation response from Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland says that, in the past year, there have been

“1,389 more ... deaths at home from heart disease and stroke and 679 fewer in hospital”.

That could be due to people’s reluctance to visit a general practitioner. The response states:

“Latest data shows 25% of people saying they would avoid contacting their GP at the moment.”

Those statistics are very worrying. Lawrence, would you like to comment further?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 March 2022

Siobhian Brown

That concludes our evidence session. I thank Dr Chopra and Dr Smyth for their evidence and time. If witnesses would like to provide any further evidence to the committee, they can do so in writing. The clerks are happy to liaise with them on how to do that.

The committee’s next meeting will be 17 March, when we will take evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on the inquiry into excess deaths in Scotland since the start of the pandemic. We will also take evidence from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery on the latest ministerial statement on Covid-19 and subordinate legislation.

11:13 Meeting continued in private until 11:22.